An F-15C fighter jet crashed Wednesday morning into George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, roughly 135 miles northwest of Richmond.
The jet was assigned to the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass., Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Candice Ismirle told USA Today.
The pilot reported an inflight emergency, and then lost radio contact with the base at about 9:05 a.m. EDT.
The fate of the pilot is not yet known.
A National Guards spokesman said the pilot was on a routine training mission, and had no munition aboard the jet.
Journalists as the Virginia newspaper News Leader heard a first responder on emergency radio frequencies say at 10:04 a.m. EDT:
"I'm on location, with smoke, and we do have debris. I got debris everywhere... I haven't located anybody."
Boston television station WCVB-TV reports the jet's destination was Louisiana.
Col James Keefe, 104th Fighter Wing Commander, released a statement on the crash that read, in part:
"Information on this incident is developing rapidly, and we are not going to speculate on what occurred or the status of the pilot.
"We are hopeful that the pilot is OK, and the pilot will be in our thoughts and prayers."
